Reader's photo: Tom Hovell
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Will this Ashes series revitalise cricket?
England's victorious cricketers have celebrated their defeat of Australia in a series for the first time since 1987 after drawing Monday's final Test at The Oval.
The team paraded through the streets of London on an open-top bus before a rally in Trafalgar Square.
Players from both sides praised the efforts and successes of their rivals after the dramatic end of the series.
Were you gripped by the Ashes? Will the series revitalise the sport? If you are an England fan, how are you celebrating? If you are not, are you drowning your sorrows?
If you have any photos of the celebrations or the victory parade you can send them to yourpics@bbc.co.uk
This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.
The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:
The English victory against the mighty Australians will do wonders for the game. Others will realize that not only are the Aussies beatable, but there is another force in world cricket to be reckoned with. Although most of the Aussie players were struggling with form or fitness, England's victory has epitomised the fact that hard work and perseverance pay dividends.
Hashim, Islamabad, Pakistan Just before Easter this year, my 12-year-old "cricket mad" son was lucky to be able to spend 5-10 minutes chatting to Andrew Flintoff who was on a flight to Portugal with the Lancashire team for some pre-season training. He was a true gent and a real sport, qualities that he and all the other players both English and Australian have displayed in abundance this series. Many congratulations on a fantastic series. A real inspiration to young players.
David, Bolton, Lancs
It was great to feel the passion, tension and excitement of a sport where the teams are friendly and the play is fair - rugby and cricket see the teams respecting each other, the umpires/ refs and the fans. If only football could live up to their standards!
Lucy , Epsom, UK
Couldn't watch it but followed it closely. As I work with Aussies this result was even better but in fairness they all have praised England. I would like to say that the majority of the negative comments here seem to be coming from north of the border. Is this because it has been such a long time since there was any success at any sport from there?
Phil, Washington DC (ex-pat)
Well done lads! A really great result! And to all those people on this page harping on about 'binge drinking', 'football' and 'weather giving us luck', I say - stop being so cynical. Something good happens in this country and there are always those people who have to drag the mood down. Be happy for them, let them have their 48 hours of fun and fame!
Luci, London
Great series and yes, I was gripped. Shame the England tests will only be shown on satellite in the future - another sport that I won't be seeing any more!
Simon, Crawley, UK
Isn't this what summers are supposed to be all about? A great saga in sport, summer holidays and a break from depressing news. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Keith, USA
What the team did was great. What is not great is the utter hype that the media are now propagating. It is a classic example of building the team up to shoot them down. Watch out media types, The people are watching and we can see the media's long-term plan of ignorance.
Mike, Blackpool, UK
No, I wasn't "gripped by the cricket" . The whole thing was completely over the top by a long way! After all there were only two teams playing - they each had a 50/50 chance. Judging by the scenes in Trafalgar Square you'd think it was the end of the war. Will you all just please calm down?
George Morrison, Aberdeen, Scotland
I think it is great that England have won the ashes, but I'm not happy that in future I will have to pay Sky Sports to watch the cricket, Sky have won the rights to show live cricket but the should make it free to view.
Alan, Bridport, Dorset
I have never been so impressed and moved by sportsmanship in my life. The behaviour of our cricketers and their fantastic triumph is an example to not only our other sportsmen (take heed, England footballers) but our nation as a whole. I have been thoroughly inspired by not only the nail-biting match play but also the personalities behind the contest. It has been a privilege to watch and I for one will miss the genius of Shane Warne - possibly the greatest cricketer of our time.
Jack, Edinburgh, Scotland
I've tried in vain for many years to explain why I love test cricket to my non-cricket loving friends, until this summer they just didn't get it, thanks to two great teams for showing why this game is so great in a way that mere words couldn't.
Kevin, West Midlands
The cricket celebrations were of our time - completely over the top! Just not cricket. Your coverage of the celebrations was totally out of proportion to the news of the day. It too was of our time- dumbed down emotion milking sensational tabloid journalism. The sports reporter on Today interviewed a cricketer's mother for goodness sake! "How do you feel?" and all that rubbish. News should be news and sport should be in its place. And I'm not Scottish, so its not nationalist bile.
David Elcock, Callander Scotland
Seems some of your readers are so new to cricket they don't know the Ashes tests are biennial.
Chris Hayes, London UK
I wish people would stop banging on about the weather helping out England. If it weren't for the rain in the fourth test, we would have trounced the Aussies before the fifth even got underway.
James, London
Who, what, where, when, why .. Huh? Didn't even know there was a match on!
AB, Glasgow
To Stephen in Leeds - if football is so working class as you put it, why does it cost over a hundred pounds to take the family to watch a 90 minute game and see a potential goalless draw played out between 22 over-paid spoilt "men"? I think that all footballers could take a lot of lessons from both England and Australia's cricketers especially those of determination and sportsmanship.
Nick, Driffield, England
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The Aussies would have been out of it by the last test if it wasn't for the weather
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To Kate from Chelmsford - England's victory did not rely on the British weather. The Aussies would have been out of it by the last test if it wasn't for the weather. You can't be second best and win a five match test series. England was the best team by some margin (and all the match stats prove it.)
KP, West Midlands
This was the best cricket in history, and I only managed to watch about an hour of it. Usually cricket is so boring I never watch it. If at its best it's still rather dull. I cannot see it getting any better
Gary Enticott, Cardiff, UK
As an Englishman I feel very embarrassed that so many people were praying for rain and dubious "low light" conditions to get this so-called "victory". It's not sporting and it's not cricket. Sorry but I don't think this has been won fairly at all.
Mikko Takala, Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire
No, I was not gripped by cricket. I would perhaps have been more gripped if it had been widely reported that the Women's All England Cricket team have also just beaten Australia and have clinched their first Ashes win for 42 years. Why is this story not being covered by the media? Surely, it is equally an accomplishment for women's sports as for the men. Shades of double standards again I presume!
Jennifer Drew, London
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The real test will be to hold on to them in Australia
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It's excellent news, but let's not get carried away. England should be able to win the Ashes on their own territory. The real test will be to hold on to them in Australia next year.
Chris, Brazil I was totally gripped by the cricket - fantastic! But now that Tony Blair is tainting the experience by jumping on the bandwagon as usual I think, like many others, I'll keep those memories to myself.
Mark,
The cricket was mind numbingly dull. The media whipped up the interest, not the cricket itself which was as exciting to watch as paint drying. Well done the lads though for their international achievement.
Simon Austin, London
As a regular club cricket player, the best thing for me about the Ashes has been watching the guys out there competing for the Ashes having banter with each other, congratulating every good performance, making jokes (the Aussies in their sunglasses) and enjoying a good drink together afterwards. Exactly the same things we do in the village form of cricket. Brilliant.
Alan, Birmingham
Normally in a department store in Scotland if you see several blokes standing round a television you can guarantee that it's a football programme. Last weekend it was cricket. Well done England (and Wales).
Robin Ward, Balloch, Loch Lomondside, Scotland
I know little about cricket, but what counts in sport is when people stand up and get themselves counted. Frantz Klammer in I don't know what year, the GB rowing team, the French World Cup winning team, etc. And now we have the likes of Freddy Flintoff doing what has to be done when the going gets tough. And to top it all there are Australians like Shane Warne who are able to push the likes of Freddy to the limits. Who cares what the sport is. This is what competition is all about. The only question is whether England will be able to sustain the media impact. I seriously doubt it. Cricket needs high level competition to survive.
Joe Ryan, Chartres, France
Just a quick thought. The Ashes were great and had the whole nation gripped. Yesterday say the team parade around London and even meet the Prime Minister while clearly worse for wear. Had the England football team done the same thing (been obviously hungover / drunk in public), they would be berated by the media. It seems that if you are a winner in a 'gentleman's sport' you can act as you please. Also the media keep talking about binge drinking and there is Freddy Flintoff being praised for fully celebrating the Ashes win. Contradiction anyone? Personally I think it's great to see them really celebrating and letting their hair down but the reaction from the media has made me think!
Rachel, London
Totally hooked by the cricket. Best entertainment for years. I'd rather watch that than some boring soap that has been cancelled for the cricket.
Dickon, Cambridge
It was great. Got me back into cricket. Being from Southern Africa (Zimbabwe, cricket was the sport. Since moving to England, because of the low coverage, I have not followed it. However, this brought back to me just how exciting and gripping the game is, and how it can all turn around. All credit to England, they are certainly deserving of their victory!
AH, Hants, UK
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~11~RS~)
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